On his way to Amethi, Gandhi first arrived in Lucknow earlier today where he was greeted by Uttar Pradesh Congress president Raj Babbar and visited Rae Bareli. The Congress chief would also be covering for his mother and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, who was scheduled to visit Rai Bareli on Wednesday. However, due to “unavoidable circumstances”, her trip was cancelled. On his second day of the tour, Gandhi would be meeting people from Rae Bareli at Bhuvemau guesthouse.

The Congress chief would be addressing a gathering of gram pradhans in Fursatganj, a district in Rae Bareli and later would attend an oath ceremony of the local bar association of lawyers in Gauriganj.

Gandhi’s representative Chandrakant Dubey said the party president would also address a ‘nukkad sabha’ at Haliyapur where he will meet party workers on the second day of his visit before leaving for Delhi, PTI quoted as saying.

Instead of a special plane to Fursatganj airfield, Gandhi took a regular flight to Chaudhary Charan Singh Airport in Lucknow, said Dubey.

This is Gandhi’s first visit after the SP-BSP alliance in Uttar Pradesh. The Congress had declared that it would contest all 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state alone after SP and BSP had excluded it from their alliance.

Freshly painted wall paintings await Congress President Rahul Gandhi in Amethi, as news of Priyanka Gandhi being given charge of East UP reach Amethi, Rae Bareli. @IndianExpresspic.twitter.com/lOzpand08h

Earlier, Gandhi had planned on visiting Amethi on January 4, however, it was cancelled in view of the Winter session of Parliament. Gandhi will also visit Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh in the near future.